Monthly Archives: October 2014

The cover of the book, Romance for Cynics by Nicola Marsh made me pick up the book and read the blurb and then I decided I could not help but buy the book. The story is set in Australia and revolves around Cash and Lucy, both of whom have been let down before, and are therefore, cynical so far as love is concerned.

The blurb:

Must. Not. Fall. For. Fake. Boyfriend.

Cashel Burgess’s PR team has come up with a plan to salvage his reputation and show his “softer” side by entering him in a Valentine’s Day competition to find Australia’s Most Romantic Couple. It’s so ridiculous it might actually work. The hitch? He doesn’t even have a girlfriend. But that’s not about to stop him….

Thanks to a good-for-nothing ex, gardener Lucy Grant hates Valentine’s Day. But when Cash makes her an offer too good to refuse, Lucy finds herself half of the most cynical couple in Australia! The only problem is, when a man fakes it this well, a girl might be tempted to turn fiction into fact….

The story:

Cashell Burgess, a self-made millionaire by the time he was 28, has high IQ, has had impressive jobs at elite actuary firms before opening his own financial advisory business. He likes the comfort derived from seeing cold, hard cash accumulate in the bank, providing security and reliability, two things he’d never had growing up.

Lucy Grant, orphaned at an early age is brought up by her grandparents, Gram and Pops. She loves them a lot and Pops is her idol- moral, upstanding and dependable. She married young, was cheated by her husband and is now divorced. She has her own gardening business, Lucy’s Landscaping and works for Cash as his gardener.

Cash is having problems in his business and Barton Clegg, an old college buddy, who works for a PR firm, GR8 4U Public Relations, and suggests that he finds himself a girlfriend for a week and participate in the massive fund raiser in the lead upto Valentine’s Day for a positive PR. He suggests that Cash ask Lucy to become his fake girlfriend for a week. Cash has always wanted to flirt with her but she gives off an air of untouchability and she would be the last woman he’d ask to be his fake girlfriend for a week.

It is mutually beneficial business arrangement with no romantic entanglement. She agrees only because her Gram is in financial distress and needs cash to prevent the sale of her house.

My take:

The story is very cute and nice. I loved the characters especially, Gram. She is so understanding, knows when to give Lucy space and when to hold her hand. The author has described the feelings of both the characters beautifully. I felt for the little Cash and it actually explains who is now- cynical.

I received Yamini Vijendran’s ‘Full Circle’ as one of the 23 books in the Tornado Giveaway organized by the Book Club. Thank you Naheed, of Indireads, and Rubina of Book Club for the book.

The Blurb:

Malini has everything she could wish for: a loving family, a good home, and years of happy memories with her late husband to look back on. But she’s haunted by a secret that’s she kept for forty years, and can’t bear to keep any longer.

Her search for answers takes her back to her home town of Kumbakonam, and brings her face-to-face with a choice that could either lead to her heart’s deepest desire, or rip apart her comfortable life.

The Story:

Malini was five when her mother died and she, along with her elder sister, Nalini, managed their father’s house and everybody in the town had praises for them. Malini was beautiful and intelligent in her studies. Ranjan, their neighbour’s nephew, would teach maths to Malini and she fell in love with him. But fate had it otherwise. Malini’s family migrated to Chennai and she got married.

Now, forty years later, Malini lives with her son, Jayanth; daughter-in-law, Geetha and granddaughter Rumi, in Chennai. She suddenly wants to go to Sneham Retirement Home in Kumbakonam, the town where she grew up, much to the disappointment of her children. She wants to find answers to questions which have been with her all her life. She shifts to the Retirement home and meets Konkona there, who becomes her confidante.

My take:

A very different story written in a way which wants the reader to read ‘just a little bit more’ before keeping the book down. The story begins when Malini wants to move and goes back and forth between the present and the past. I loved Malini’s character right from when she is a little girl to now when she is a grandmother. I could actually visualize, a small girl running around in Pavadai, singing in the temple and even weaving garlands, the author has described the scenes so well. She has beautifully described the relationship and the understanding between the sisters.

Loved the book and am waiting for more from the author.

Book Source: Publisher courtesy the Tornado Giveaway organised by The Book Club

Outwardly, Malini is a contented, sixty-something grandmother with a loving family and everything a person could wish for. But Malini has lived her entire life with a secret confined to the deepest recesses of her heart.

Haunted by the past, she travels to Kumbakonam, her native town, which she had left years ago. There, she comes face-to-face with her long-lost love.

After forty years, will Malini be able to reclaim her own life, when love comes knocking at her door once again?

Yamini Vijendran (@saimini) is the author of ‘Full Circle’, a romance novella published by Indireads. After being a Software Professional for 7 years, Yamini has been freelancing from home for the past 3 years. She loves to dabble in fiction and romance and drama are her favorite genres. Her short stories have been published in ‘Love Stories That Touched My Heart’, an Anthology published by Penguin India, New Asian Writing and Six Sentences. Yamini also likes to pen poems when inspiration strikes, and her poetry has been published in The Indian Review, Contemporary Literary Review of India and ‘A World Rediscovered’ a poetry Anthology by Cyberwit Publications. Yamini draws material for her stories and poems from the world around her. When she is not converting her experiences to stories or poems, Yamini reads, plays with her toddler, and fools around her laboratory, that is, the kitchen.

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Between Him and Her by Jaspreet Soni is a short story which was posted by Indireads Editor on 2nd September 2014 for the Indireads Short Story contest.

Ria is getting ready for the book launch and the reading session for her new book when her daughter Akansha brings her an invitation card for a wedding- the wedding of Rajat’s daughter. Ria had met Rajat at a book store, had fallen in love with him but they had decided to stay just acquaintances. She never got over Rajat and he still occupies a corner of her heart, though she is happy with the life she is living with her husband and daughter, they still keep in touch occasionally. She goes to the book launch with a heavy heart and a smile on her lips, desperately seeking a familiar face.

But does Rajat come for the book launch?? Read on.

My take:

I really liked the story and the way the author has written it moving smoothly between the past and the present.

When you receive a book a month in advance before the release date, what do you do? Me, I put everything on hold and start with the book, and don’t keep it down until I’ve finished it. This is what I did when I received Reet Singh’s new book, “The cure was love”. Thank you so much, Reet, for sending me an advance copy of the book. I really enjoyed it. The book is a sweet love story of Simi and Rudy.

The story:

Simi Gill, 24, is the only child of an only parent, Simi, is very attached to her father, a retired Colonel, who had devoted his entire life to her after the death of her mother in childbirth. He runs a plant nursery in Chandigarh and she is studying medicine in Bangalore. She has been jilted by her boyfriend because of her polycystic ovaries and her father issues. Simi is used to things going wrong all the time- like murphy wrote the law based on her life.

Half Indian, Dr Rudy Bhatnagar, a surgeon, the son of a gynaecologist and an orthopaedic surgeon, is rich and recently divorced. As far as women are concerned, he has had enough of any kind to last him a lifetime.

Simi is in her last month of her medical studentship at Sloan Kettering Medical Centre in New York and goes to her favorite grill and bar, The Blue Danube, with her best friend and roommate, Shubra. She is allergic to alcohol and passes out only to wake up to the sound of an off key baritone, with a throbbing head only to find herself lying in a state of undress wearing a man’s flannel shirt. To top it all, ‘Mr Baritone’ tells her that she had she is in a room above the bar. When Rudy (Mr Baritone) Rudy is on the way to drop her, she gets in the way of the bullet and hurts her arm and he has to rush her to his surgery instead. She ends up meeting his parents and finds that she and his father belong to the same medical college in Bangalore. They are attracted to each other and she knows Rudy is out of bounds for her because he is not interested and she cannot have him because she does not want to stay away from her father. Moreover, she could do without the pain of leaving her heart behind in America. So, she leaves for India without informing him.

My take:

I loved the story and especially the way the author has described the feelings of both the characters. The relationship between Simi and her father and that between Rudy and his family has been beautifully portrayed.

Overall, a nice book.

Highly recommended. i would be buying a paperback as soon as it is releases in the Indian market

Love Lasts forever : If you don’y marry your love by Vikrant Khanna as a review copy from Nimi Vashi of the Readers Cosmos and would like to thank her for the book. The book revolves around two love stories wherein one story is an eye opener for the other and changes the course of the story.

The Blurb:

So you think your love can last forever? Get married!

Eighteen-year-old Ronit falls madly in love with Aisha the moment he meets her at his graduation day from a naval college. He believes he has found his perfect soul mate and come what may, his love for her will last forever. Seven years later, he gets married to her. Big mistake! A week later, he completely hates her and believes she has turned into a devil.

But his perception about love and life change when he hears the poignant love story of Shekhar, his Captain, on a ship that later gets hijacked by the pirates of Somalia.

As they are left fighting for their lives, they confront if love truly can last forever? Or does it get too late?

The story:

Ronit is eighteen when he sees Aisha, his classmate, Priyank’s sister, on the day of his graduation from a naval college and falls in love with her. She reciprocates his feelings and they decide to get married seven years later. SHE CHANGES OVERNIGHT and he feels that she is not the Aisha he knows. He starts hating her and decides to go on a ship even though it was his off period. He plans to come back from the voyage and divorce her.

As their ship, Adriatic, sails across the Indian Ocean, his Captain, Shekhar, gets nostalgic and starts telling him about his love story, his wife, their divorce and how he still loves her. Lost in the story, they forget to notice the approach of the Somalian pirates and their ship is hijacked and they are taken as hostages.

During the time his life hangs in balance at the mercy of the pirates and their employers, something changes.

My take:

A very fast paced story with two love stories intertwined. I loved the way Shekhar describes his love story, it seemed so real that it made me cry. Ronit and his friend, Joe Singh, are typical hostellers with mischief up their sleeve and Priyank is the typical GOOD boy.

The language is simple and the flow is good. The description of the atrocities of the pirates actually made me shiver, I pity those who have actually undergone it.

The end was unpredictable making the book all the more interesting.

Book Source: “This book review is a part of The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program and Blog Tours. To get free books log on to thereaderscosmos.blogspot.com”

Samir is suicidal. Rachael works for a suicide helpline. Fate connects them through a phone call. And so begins Samir’s story of love, longing, errors, regret and a girl who changed his life. As his story reaches its conclusion, Rachael will know the true reason behind his suicidal tendencies. But this suicide helpline is not any ordinary service. There is more to the mysterious and yet so convincing voice of Rachael. As this new mystery begins to unfold, Samir is going to discover three things:

What is The Helpline?

Who is Rachael?

What is Samir’s own identity?

Every year, several teenagers in India attempt suicide because of failing relationships, dwindling careers, parental pressure or the competitive world. This story is about one such teenager, his early problems and the hurdles to cope with them. This story is about finding hope in the struggle. This story is about fighting for what you believe in and discovering your true identity. This is not a story about falling in love. This is a story of rising from a failed love story.